Chapter 47: The Opener, The King Strikes Back
"Zhang Weifeng, do it and fuck him a bitch." Artest had a bad temper. Seeing that the team was so much behind, he suddenly became angry.
Zhang Weifeng was stunned, but nodded immediately. When Hoyce, Randy Ferye, and Yuduli heard it, he felt chills. The agreement between the two "wild beasts" opened, and the counterattack was kicked off.
In fact, Zhang Weifeng wanted to shout "Brothers, search guys." But looking at the more than 10,000 pairs of eyes around him, he was not confident enough.
Sharif and Miller below seemed to hear the conversation between the two. They suppressed their smiles and shouted loudly below, and two white towels were constantly dancing in their hands.
The Hornets' inside line is still a combination of Chandler and West, but this time Zhang Weifeng no longer holds back. He grinned, and Zhang Weifeng's expression seemed quite strange to outsiders.
Smith, the old man, thought he had discovered the change in momentum on the field at the first time. It was from the Kings, Zhang Weifeng and Artest, with a fierce aura like a beast.
West gave people the feeling of a court - a pirate, but Zhang Weifeng knew that this guy was also a master who liked to pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger. He smiled and his back was already leaning against him. Zhang Weifeng opened his hand to ask for the ball, and Yuduli had already understood the basketball. Although the few people were wandering on the court, they gave people the feeling of watching a show.
West's mouth curled up. Does this rookie want to play singles? He couldn't help but feel a little funny. He didn't think a rookie could challenge his authority. Although West is only 206cm tall, he is full of strength and has outstanding abilities at the basket. He is also a quasi-All-star player.
Most of the inside are long, and West's defense is mainly based on the body's support. This may not be very effective in some tall players. Average of 0.8 steals and 0.7 blocks per game is the best proof.
However, in his opinion, Zhang Weifeng may not be able to complete the attack on his head, let alone score.
Zhang Weifeng's naked height reached 210cm. When he stood with West, the gap immediately became apparent.
Zhang Weifeng's playing style is very smart. Although he is very powerful, he will not be stupid enough to fight with West. He turned around tentatively. West did not sway, but stood still.
Then Zhang Weifeng didn't give him any chance to react. He turned around and took a little left foot. The basketball was already raised by him. West didn't have time to jump, so Zhang Weifeng had already gently sent the basketball out of the basket.
"The center hook has a bit of a 'Tian Gou'. If Zhang Weifeng had a complete mastery of this move, he would be enough to gain a foothold in the NBA. After all, there are only a handful of players in the league that have stable hooks. It's even more insignificant to talk about 'Tian Gou'." Kenny Smith nodded constantly and shouted excitedly when he saw this scene.
Barkley made a bad face and retorted loudly: "It's just a ball, maybe it's just a break. If the hook is so easy to master, the current league insider will not be like this."
Zhang Weifeng didn't know what the two were discussing on the platform. He had now completely devoted himself to the game. The guy Atai around him was also crazy and tried his best to defend. Of course, Zhang Weifeng could not hold the team's back.
"Hey, Zhang Weifeng." Zhang Weifeng grabbed the frontcourt rebound and was hesitating whether to attack, Randy Fury's anxious voice had already heard from a distance.
Randy Fery is outside the three-point line. He feels very good. He has made two three-pointers. This time he reaches out to ask for the ball. There is no defender beside him. Chris Paul is far away. Zhang Weifeng knew that the opportunity was fleeting, so he threw the basketball out without hesitation.
After Randy Fury received the ball, he jumped up gently, and the basketball rotated and flew out at high speed with the power of his palm. Seeing the trajectory of the ball, Zhang Weifeng knew that he would definitely enter. He also withdrew from the inside line in advance.
The basketball fell into the basket, and the stadium did not make the expected cheers. Several people on the court also smiled awkwardly, only to realize that this was the home court of the New Orleans Hornets.
The three-pointer scored, and the score reached 45:51, with 6 points left, and 1 minute and 35 seconds left before the end of the midfield, the Hornets requested a timeout.
After this timeout, Hornets head coach Byron Scott was surprisingly peaceful. Without a word, he just let several Hornets players rest for a while, and after the timeout time was over, the game started again.
Paul knew that this was the head coach’s trust in him, and now he needed to show his ability to control the court.
The one who defends Paul is Yuduri, who is taller than Paul, and has extremely long arms. His gibbon-like body is his capital to defend the No. 1 player.
However, Paul did not give Yuduri a chance to entangle him. Anyone familiar with the NBA knows that Paul is actually a dirty player. At least this was a recognized fact later. The endless small movements made Kobe beat Kobe. What's more, this small Yuduri was leaning against Yuduri. Paul made a fake fax attack, and the basketball passed under Paul's crotch and returned to his hand again.
At this time, his left hand had already made a move, and his fingers tightly pressed against Yuduri's waist. Yuduri was in pain, and his body stopped immediately. Paul easily broke through. After crossing the free throw line, he began to change directions continuously. Similar to Wade's "Misturbation Step", he deceived Weber and Randy Fery's attack, and Paul was about to complete a backhand layup.
All of this was seen by Zhang Weifeng, who was extremely experienced in the field. He slid under his feet for a few consecutive times. The man had already reached one side of the rebound, and Paul on the other side of the rebound had also soared into the air. Zhang Weifeng's feet had already bounced to the highest point and glided. Paul didn't know that Zhang Weifeng couldn't come, so he took action in an instant and threw the basketball high.
"Bang!" A dull voice came, and there was silence in the basketball hall, and everyone was already shouting loudly on the bench of the Kings. The block made their blood boil.
"Excellent block!" Smith shouted loudly.
After the words came to Barkley's dissatisfaction, but there was a hint of surprise in Barkley's eyes, and he moved his mouth and said nothing.
Paul fell to the ground and looked at the basketball being pressed on the rebound. He was also a little surprised, but he was more angry. His goal that scored the top ten goals was actually destroyed by Zhang Weifeng, a rookie who had just entered the league.
His eyes rolled twice, and Paul was thinking about how to kill the rookie's mighty power. But will Zhang Weifeng, who has played more than a thousand games, be fooled? Of course not.
This block greatly aroused the morale of the Kings. Artest successfully intercepted twice in a row. Then, Randy Ferye and John Somons each made a three-pointer.
At the end of the half-time game, the score between the two sides was frozen at 53:56. With a 3-point advantage, the Hornets and their team returned to the locker room in a depressed mood.
In the first half, Atai played for 20 minutes, and his performance was pretty good in the first quarter, but then he got into the state. He contributed 5 steals in the first half, which was quite like the best defensive player of the year.
In the locker room, Artest was excited and sat next to Zhang Weifeng. He had a rare chat.
Chapter completed!